You may recall that I previously blogged about the fate of the Edzell Library, just one story among many in the UK these days, earlier this year.
The good people at the Edzell Library Action Group sent me an update yesterday, and I will excerpt their words below. You can also find more information here, here and here.
"The Council have said they hope for a Public Meeting in the New Year to discuss with the community the future use and management of Inglis Memorial Hall. The Council have given no precise plans for its important historical aspects. They have claimed they wish to make the library room and old books into some sort of volunteer-staffed ‘museum’ but no detailed ideas have been presented and they have stated if the community do not agree and no volunteers come forward then the proposal will be withdrawn. It currently seems as though the Council appear to be wanting to hand over responsibility for Inglis Memorial Hall to the community. The thought that the Council may be thinking of selling Inglis Memorial Hall gives even greater cause for concern.
Since the closure Edzell has received 2 hours a week mobile library service parked outside the old library. New mobile vans have been promised but confusion exists over many aspects of the proposed service. Start dates, originally presented as imminent, are now uncertain; the new vans still not having been ordered. In November the Council conducted a consultation on the new service where draft timetables showed a proposed increase in mobile hours to an average of 4 hours a week for Edzell.
ELAG do not understand the Council's financial reasonings and believe that if a library service can be provided for 4 hours a week via a van parked for most of the time directly outside Inglis Memorial Hall (as is currently proposed) a library service can equally be provided for 4 hours a week inside Inglis Memorial Hall."
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Special health collections in libraries: Only Connect readers report!
A faithful reader of this blog sent me the following information about, and photo (at right) of, the Kitchener Public Library's special collection about Autism Spectrum Disorders.Our reader reports that the collection "was originally established by the Waterloo Wellington Autism Services. The library holds 54 titles (of over 800) that have been published in 2009 or 2010. This specialized health collection has just been moved from the Main Library (major renovations) to the Grand River Stanley Park branch." More information available here.
I was at KPL in 2009 - more general photos are here, in my Libraries, bookstores, and book-related set.
The readers' advisor in me can't click "publish" without recommending the following excellent novels featuring characters with autism spectrum disorders:
- Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
- The Way Things Look to Me by Roopa Farooki
- The Bone People by Keri Hulme
- Rules by Cynthia Lord
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Friday, November 26, 2010
Felt Friday: Ten in the bed
Ten in the bed:
Ten out of the bed:
This is a great song to use to introduce children to different animals: what's fun about it, especially, is the hodge podge of domestic and farm animals. This leaves the door open for a storytime about cats, dogs, pets, or farm life! The song is useful also for the more obvious reason: it's a counting song.
Here it goes:
Ten in the bed
There were ten in the bed,
And the little one said,
“Roll over! Roll over!” [do motions]
So they all rolled over
And one fell out.
[you can also say "And Dog fell out," etc. or even add noises, eg. "Splat!" "Crash" "Meow!"]
There were nine in the bed ... etc.
[before the last verse I make them go "shhhhh" and make the little girl character lie down in bed]
There was one in the bed,
And the little one said,
"Good night." [motion going to sleep]
This felt was a lot of fun to make, because the animals are really small, which means less detail work and they are still oddly cute, if I must say so myself. The bed is extra-big (about 26 cm) and the burgundy bed frame is that harder, skinnier felt, re-enforced with velcro behind the "bedposts" so that it stays stuck on the board even with the weight of ten in the bed. The blue bedspread is a stretchier, knobbly soft felt, glued and stapled on each side (because we all know there can be accidents sometimes!)
Each animal is about the size of one of my fingers. My favourite is the goat (wait, my favourite is almost always the goat, whether we're talking cheese or felts...).I used this felt this week for the theme "Families." We read Good night, Sam by Marie-Louise Gay and Les Dents de ma Maman by Antoine Guilloppé.
Other songs you can use with this felt, depending on your theme, include "Five little monkeys" (I laminated a set of monkeys from this wonderful website, which my colleague Courtney told me about years ago - I also sometimes use their stories as templates for felts...), "Skinnamarink" (families - love), "Where is Thumbkin" (families - people in them!), or either of the following action rhymes. Enjoy!
Where are my baby mice
Where are the baby mice? (squeak, squeak, squeak)
I do not see them (peek, peek, peek)
Here they come out of the hole in the wall
One, two, three, four, five. That's all!
Come little chickens
"Come little chickens," calls Mother Hen
"It's time to take your nap again." [Beckoning motion]
And under her feathers the small chicks creep, [Fingers of right hand creep into folded left hand]
And she clucks a song till they fall asleep. [Move hands gently in rocking motion]
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Quebec Writers' Federation literary awards
Full list of winners here, including:
Miguel Syjuco's Illustrado for the fiction prize (which is kind of nice, since it was starting to look like Canadian awards were ignoring him...), history scholar Sean Mills's The Empire Within, and Caryl Cude Mullin for Rough Magic (for children and teens - well, really more teens), a book I read last year and loved. Rough Magic is inspired by The Tempest and follows the story of Sycorax, Caliban's sorceress mother.
Miguel Syjuco's Illustrado for the fiction prize (which is kind of nice, since it was starting to look like Canadian awards were ignoring him...), history scholar Sean Mills's The Empire Within, and Caryl Cude Mullin for Rough Magic (for children and teens - well, really more teens), a book I read last year and loved. Rough Magic is inspired by The Tempest and follows the story of Sycorax, Caliban's sorceress mother.
(More) book trailers online
Mooresville Public Library (Mooresville, Indiana) has over 80 up on their blog.
(Thanks to The Reader's Advisor Online Blog for the tip).
(Thanks to The Reader's Advisor Online Blog for the tip).
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
"Those were my salad days..."
I love, love, love this idea:
"Scott Griffin has launched a new competition designed to revive the art of poetry recital among high school students."
(More info. here and here)
One of the best things my high school English teacher, Mrs. Tynan, made us do was memorise poetry and drama: either monologues from Shakespeare or something similar. Of course, years later, Dr. Lecker (twice in one day, talking about Lecker!) had us identify Canadian poetry quotes for our Canlit final exam.
I cannot think of a more appropriate statement about poetry than Griffin's: "Poetry is not just for the elite — it is a language that should be spoken in the cafés, the streets and especially the classrooms of the nation."
Hear, hear!
*"My salad days, / When I was green in judgment, cold in blood." Cleopatra in Antony & Cleopatra.
"Scott Griffin has launched a new competition designed to revive the art of poetry recital among high school students."
(More info. here and here)
One of the best things my high school English teacher, Mrs. Tynan, made us do was memorise poetry and drama: either monologues from Shakespeare or something similar. Of course, years later, Dr. Lecker (twice in one day, talking about Lecker!) had us identify Canadian poetry quotes for our Canlit final exam.
I cannot think of a more appropriate statement about poetry than Griffin's: "Poetry is not just for the elite — it is a language that should be spoken in the cafés, the streets and especially the classrooms of the nation."
Hear, hear!
*"My salad days, / When I was green in judgment, cold in blood." Cleopatra in Antony & Cleopatra.
Canlit class + OPL blogging
Yoked together by violence*, and Michael Turner.
Thanks, Dr. Lecker.
*to quote Samuel Johnson's criticism of Donne.
Thanks, Dr. Lecker.
*to quote Samuel Johnson's criticism of Donne.
Customer-friendly features
Oh, dear. Even the press release leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
According to a big research study published today by the UK's MLA, "while books remain at the core of the public's expectation for the service, there is clear demand for customer-friendly features such as online book lending, children's facilities, adult classes, helpful staff, convenient opening hours."
Whoa. Didn't realise that children's facilities and helpful staff were considered extra, "customer-friendly features." I kind of took them as a right.
It's interesting to note that current and lapsed users rate coffee shop on site, longer opening hours, and children's activities as the top three things that "would encourage them to use libraries more."
It is alarming to see that only 14% of those surveyed view the library as somewhere to take their children, but heartening to see that even non library users see the value in library service.
England, I do hope you realise I pick on you because I love you... and because I know you can do better.
And maybe a little because I miss you. It's a passive-aggressive thing, you see.
According to a big research study published today by the UK's MLA, "while books remain at the core of the public's expectation for the service, there is clear demand for customer-friendly features such as online book lending, children's facilities, adult classes, helpful staff, convenient opening hours."
Whoa. Didn't realise that children's facilities and helpful staff were considered extra, "customer-friendly features." I kind of took them as a right.
It's interesting to note that current and lapsed users rate coffee shop on site, longer opening hours, and children's activities as the top three things that "would encourage them to use libraries more."
It is alarming to see that only 14% of those surveyed view the library as somewhere to take their children, but heartening to see that even non library users see the value in library service.
England, I do hope you realise I pick on you because I love you... and because I know you can do better.
And maybe a little because I miss you. It's a passive-aggressive thing, you see.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
My dream library*
Quick. You're 10 years old again. Close your eyes and picture your dream library.
Got it?
OK, now see what kids in Britain are picturing by clicking here to check out the first three of the nine finalists in the "My Dream Library" competition organised by UK children's book supplier Peters Bookselling Services to celebrate the 30th issue of its tBkmag magazine. PBS asked schoolkids and library book clubs to "draw and describe their dream library, offering the chance to win a 'tBkmag Reading Zone' for the library of their choice, consisting of library furniture and shelving to the value of £2000 from The Kit Shop, and over £1000 worth of books donated by leading publishers."
Three finalists' drawings will be revealed on the PBS website every week, leading up to an announcement of the winner on Dec 8th. The three above feature a roller-coaster, cameras, and a casino theme (I have to say, you can't sell me on that last one...)
Says PBS of the over 300 entries received, "the theme running through all the entries is that children want somewhere fun and exciting to read, and see the library and books as a way to exercise their imagination - real evidence, if it were needed, of the importance of libraries and books to young people at a time when libraries face much uncertainty amid budget cuts and closures."
Indeed!
*I kind of hate that title. It's so "My little pony" somehow....
Got it?
OK, now see what kids in Britain are picturing by clicking here to check out the first three of the nine finalists in the "My Dream Library" competition organised by UK children's book supplier Peters Bookselling Services to celebrate the 30th issue of its tBkmag magazine. PBS asked schoolkids and library book clubs to "draw and describe their dream library, offering the chance to win a 'tBkmag Reading Zone' for the library of their choice, consisting of library furniture and shelving to the value of £2000 from The Kit Shop, and over £1000 worth of books donated by leading publishers."
Three finalists' drawings will be revealed on the PBS website every week, leading up to an announcement of the winner on Dec 8th. The three above feature a roller-coaster, cameras, and a casino theme (I have to say, you can't sell me on that last one...)
Says PBS of the over 300 entries received, "the theme running through all the entries is that children want somewhere fun and exciting to read, and see the library and books as a way to exercise their imagination - real evidence, if it were needed, of the importance of libraries and books to young people at a time when libraries face much uncertainty amid budget cuts and closures."
Indeed!
*I kind of hate that title. It's so "My little pony" somehow....
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Costa shortlist
Everything is coming up awards today: The Costa 2010 shortlist was just announced:
In case you didn't already know about them, the Costa Book Awards (formerly The Whitbread Awards) are for UK (Great Britain and Ireland) authors.
In case you didn't already know about them, the Costa Book Awards (formerly The Whitbread Awards) are for UK (Great Britain and Ireland) authors.
GGs announced
Winners are:
Fiction: Dianne Warren for Cool Water and Kim Thúy pour Ru
Poetry: Richard Greene for Boxing the Compass and Danielle Fournier pour effleurés de lumière
Drama: Robert Chafe for Afterimage et David Paquet pour Porc-épic
Non-fiction: Allan Casey for Lakeland: Journeys into the Soul of Canada and Michel Lavoie, pour C’est ma seigneurie que je réclame : la lutte des Hurons de Lorette pour la seigneurie de Sillery, 1650-1900
Children’s Literature – Text: Wendy Phillips for Fishtailing and Élise Turcotte pour Rose : derrière le rideau de la folie
Children’s Literature – Illustration: Jon Klassen for Cats’ Night Out, text by Caroline Stutson and Daniel Sylvestre for Rose : derrière le rideau de la folie, text by Élise Turcotte
Translation: Linda Gaboriau for Forests (English translation of Forêts par Wajdi Mouawad) and Sophie Voillot pour Le cafard (French translation of Cockroach by Rawi Hage)
Details here!
Fiction: Dianne Warren for Cool Water and Kim Thúy pour Ru
Poetry: Richard Greene for Boxing the Compass and Danielle Fournier pour effleurés de lumière
Drama: Robert Chafe for Afterimage et David Paquet pour Porc-épic
Non-fiction: Allan Casey for Lakeland: Journeys into the Soul of Canada and Michel Lavoie, pour C’est ma seigneurie que je réclame : la lutte des Hurons de Lorette pour la seigneurie de Sillery, 1650-1900
Children’s Literature – Text: Wendy Phillips for Fishtailing and Élise Turcotte pour Rose : derrière le rideau de la folie
Children’s Literature – Illustration: Jon Klassen for Cats’ Night Out, text by Caroline Stutson and Daniel Sylvestre for Rose : derrière le rideau de la folie, text by Élise Turcotte
Translation: Linda Gaboriau for Forests (English translation of Forêts par Wajdi Mouawad) and Sophie Voillot pour Le cafard (French translation of Cockroach by Rawi Hage)
Details here!
2010 Evergreen Award
The 2010 OLA (Ontario Library Association) Evergreen Award winner is the lovely Jessica Grant's Come Thou, Tortoise, one of my favourite reads of the year. Grant also won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and made the longlist for the IMPAC Dublin Award.
The Evergreen Award is the adult "tree" in the OLA Forest of Reading.
(Thx to Shonna for the announcement).
More on tortoises forthcoming: another of my 2010 favourites may well feature one.
The Evergreen Award is the adult "tree" in the OLA Forest of Reading.
(Thx to Shonna for the announcement).
More on tortoises forthcoming: another of my 2010 favourites may well feature one.
Monday, November 15, 2010
"On not being able to write"
The bittersweet ode of Keats'
autumn, the Kafkan labyrinth,
the fated, fractured, Ariel.
An awful
beauty in such agonising
mortality,
the destined winter lurking always
outside the margins,
in the spaces between the
words.
The spaces and
margins
smother
my words.
This is the moment:
creativity is
stillborn,
Sylvia turns on the gas,
the scream of the muse
ceases
to make any noise at all.
I no longer believe that
words
will keep my Caliban hidden.
You taught me language,
and my profit was not that I learned to curse,
but that I learned the protest of silence.
I have watched the
spaces
insinuate darkness.
I have built
the labyrinth of labyrinths,
containing horror in
the fragile glass of
a few phrases.
I have kept a world of
anguish in a
captivity of my own ill-constructed design,
and it is not enough.
A terrible beauty is born and borne
and there are no
words left.
What is the language of suffering?
I think I spoke it a long time ago,
when it seemed to carry the weight
of less horrible things.
When I carried the weight of less horrible things?
I forget.
I forget what it was like
before the silence stifled,
before it crept into my mind,
a duplicitous lover,
intimating peace.
autumn, the Kafkan labyrinth,
the fated, fractured, Ariel.
An awful
beauty in such agonising
mortality,
the destined winter lurking always
outside the margins,
in the spaces between the
words.
The spaces and
margins
smother
my words.
This is the moment:
creativity is
stillborn,
Sylvia turns on the gas,
the scream of the muse
ceases
to make any noise at all.
I no longer believe that
words
will keep my Caliban hidden.
You taught me language,
and my profit was not that I learned to curse,
but that I learned the protest of silence.
I have watched the
spaces
insinuate darkness.
I have built
the labyrinth of labyrinths,
containing horror in
the fragile glass of
a few phrases.
I have kept a world of
anguish in a
captivity of my own ill-constructed design,
and it is not enough.
A terrible beauty is born and borne
and there are no
words left.
What is the language of suffering?
I think I spoke it a long time ago,
when it seemed to carry the weight
of less horrible things.
When I carried the weight of less horrible things?
I forget.
I forget what it was like
before the silence stifled,
before it crept into my mind,
a duplicitous lover,
intimating peace.
Monday news sludge
Did you watch the Giller awards ceremony? I caught up with in as a rerun this weekend, and I'm so glad I did. Not only was the wealth of young faces totally refreshing, it was energising to hear Canadians speak so engagingly - and passionately - about our literature. I hate when people use the word, classy, frankly ('cause I think it's a little vulgar) but I have to break with that rule and say that Jack is a class act, because, um, he just is. I had the great honour of meeting him in person when we both spoke at ABQLA's 75th anniversary a few years back, and he is just as interesting - and interested in everything - and totally warm as he looks on TV.
If you watched the ceremony, perhaps, like me, you were also moved to tears by Joanna Skibsrud's sisters tears when she won - that was such a great moment!
Meanwhile, news swirls around us, including the first item here, which is Giller-related. It should be extra incentive to complete the One Country, 5 Books challenge!:
If you watched the ceremony, perhaps, like me, you were also moved to tears by Joanna Skibsrud's sisters tears when she won - that was such a great moment!
Meanwhile, news swirls around us, including the first item here, which is Giller-related. It should be extra incentive to complete the One Country, 5 Books challenge!:
- The always-magnificent Gaspereau Press announced today that it has sold Canadian paperback rights for Skibsrud's Giller winner, The Sentimentalists, to Douglas & McIntyre. I knew they would find a way to balance their craft with putting Skibsrud's work first. This concludes the story arc I was avoiding all last week, in which numerous news sources bemoaned the lack of copies of the book due to Gaspereau's hand-printing process.
- Maybe we should be requiring readers' advisors to be social readers?
- IMPAC looooooooooonglist is out (warning: 162 titles! One for every 2.2 days of the year! Or, you know, you could just check out the 16 Canadians who made the list....)
- Matilda's library might close: Buckinghamshire County Council is planning to close Great Missenden Library, the inspiration for Roald Dahl's novel.
- Did Ali Smith break Giller jury protocol? The mountains of navel-gazing press coverage is enough to make me lose my warm post-Giller glow.
- New copyright law in Canada up for dabate: Writers and publishers react; librarians react.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Felt Friday: Colours
Back by popular demand! I am pretty sure I won't be able to post every Friday (as I did in May), but I will try to revive Felt Fridays once in awhile.
This is a newly-constructed felt. Heartfelt thanks goes out to the staff of Rideau Branch, who helped me make these mittens during The Great Melodramatic Symphony Update of 2010. They cut out the mittens according to my template and colour specifications; I decorated them (my favourite is the grey mitten with the snowflake design.... and yeah, I hand-sewed that swirly thing on the small green mitten).
I'm breaking this felt in this week for storytime, since my theme is colours. Books I will probably use:
- Wow, said the owl
- Le Rêve de Mimi
- De quelle couleur est ta culotte?
- Blue Goose
Now, the reason for specificity with mitten colours: I use the mittens during the below song! In fact, each of the mittens above has a "mate," which I am planning to hand out to kids before storytime. They can then come up and match their mitten to the one on the board.
If Your Clothes Have Any Red (tune: “If you’re happy and you know it;” props to Kaya for coming up with extra verses to this song)
If your clothes have any red, any red,
If your clothes have any red, any red,
If your clothes have any red, put your finger on your head,
If your clothes have any red, any red.
Pink – give your neighbour a big wink!
Blue – reach down and touch your shoe!
White – reach up with all your might!
Purple – make yourself comforturple!
Grey – dance your sillies all away!
Green – wave your hand so you are seen
Yellow – smile like a happy fellow
Brown – turn your smile into a frown
Black – put your hands behind your back.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
"War poet"
I am the man who looked for peace and found
My own eyes barbed.
I am the man who groped for words and found
An arrow in my hand.
I am the builder whose firm walls surround
A slipping land.
When I grow sick or mad
Mock me not nor chain me;
When I reach for the wind
Cast me not down
Though my face is a burnt book
And a wasted town.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Rewarding....
... was the theme of today.
As part of a continuing partnership that I have been trying to develop with the Ottawa Mission, I visited the Stepping Stones Learning Centre for adult learners at the Mission last week and the Day program today. The Day Program (the only program of its kind in Ottawa) is a daily group program for clients in the shelter and the community who may not be ready to commit to residential addiction treatment (participants must be clean and sober each day they attend the program).
Both visits were extremely well-received, and about 30 men learned about the library’s programs and services, including library membership, computer usage, databases for research and hobbies. Each person also received information about library programs, a bookmark and a free paperback. The men were welcoming, interested, and grateful for the personal connection to the library. Honestly, both groups were exemplary. I could not have been more impressed.
This morning, only a few hours after I visited the Day Program, three men from the group had already come in to get library cards for the first time!
As part of a continuing partnership that I have been trying to develop with the Ottawa Mission, I visited the Stepping Stones Learning Centre for adult learners at the Mission last week and the Day program today. The Day Program (the only program of its kind in Ottawa) is a daily group program for clients in the shelter and the community who may not be ready to commit to residential addiction treatment (participants must be clean and sober each day they attend the program).
Both visits were extremely well-received, and about 30 men learned about the library’s programs and services, including library membership, computer usage, databases for research and hobbies. Each person also received information about library programs, a bookmark and a free paperback. The men were welcoming, interested, and grateful for the personal connection to the library. Honestly, both groups were exemplary. I could not have been more impressed.
This morning, only a few hours after I visited the Day Program, three men from the group had already come in to get library cards for the first time!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
I remember
21 years ago.
Today I will leave you with a poem (not mine) that always reminded me of him.
"The woman who could not live with her faulty heart"
I do not mean the symbol
of love, a candy shape
to decorate cakes with,
the heart that is supposed
to belong or break;
I mean this lump of muscle
that contracts like a flayed biceps,
purple-blue, with its skin of suet,
its skin of gristle, this isolate,
this caved hermit, unshelled
turtle, this one lungful of blood,
no happy plateful.
All hearts float in their own
deep oceans of no light,
wetblack and glimmering,
their four mouths gulping like fish.
Hearts are said to pound:
this is to be expected, the heart’s
regular struggle against being drowned.
But most hearts say, I want, I want,
I want, I want. My heart
is more duplicitious,
though no twin as I once thought.
It says, I want, I don’t want, I
want, and then a pause.
It forces me to listen,
and at night it is the infra-red
third eye that remains open
while the other two are sleeping
but refuses to say what it has seen.
It is a constant pestering
in my ears, a caught moth, limping drum,
a child’s fist beating
itself against the bedsprings:
I want, I don’t want.
How can one live with such a heart?
Long ago I gave up singing
to it, it will never be satisfied or lulled.
One night I will say to it:
Heart, be still,
and it will.
Margaret Atwood, Two-Headed Poems, 1978.
Today I will leave you with a poem (not mine) that always reminded me of him.
"The woman who could not live with her faulty heart"
I do not mean the symbol
of love, a candy shape
to decorate cakes with,
the heart that is supposed
to belong or break;
I mean this lump of muscle
that contracts like a flayed biceps,
purple-blue, with its skin of suet,
its skin of gristle, this isolate,
this caved hermit, unshelled
turtle, this one lungful of blood,
no happy plateful.
All hearts float in their own
deep oceans of no light,
wetblack and glimmering,
their four mouths gulping like fish.
Hearts are said to pound:
this is to be expected, the heart’s
regular struggle against being drowned.
But most hearts say, I want, I want,
I want, I want. My heart
is more duplicitious,
though no twin as I once thought.
It says, I want, I don’t want, I
want, and then a pause.
It forces me to listen,
and at night it is the infra-red
third eye that remains open
while the other two are sleeping
but refuses to say what it has seen.
It is a constant pestering
in my ears, a caught moth, limping drum,
a child’s fist beating
itself against the bedsprings:
I want, I don’t want.
How can one live with such a heart?
Long ago I gave up singing
to it, it will never be satisfied or lulled.
One night I will say to it:
Heart, be still,
and it will.
Margaret Atwood, Two-Headed Poems, 1978.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Weekend update
(now with less Seth Myers!)
I had a pretty busy week. Last Sunday, I found out I am going to NELI, which is really exciting .... and really scary! I am very pleased, and honoured to be chosen. I think it will be a great opportunity. So one thing I did this week was make some other arrangements for my absence in early December (re-arrange my course outline for ILLs, arrange hotels, etc.)
Our big thing this week was author visits: we had two at Rideau, on the same day, even! Children's author Sylvie Massicotte visited Rideau Branch to talk to a class on Tuesday afternoon; Claire Rothman visited on Tuesday evening. My colleague mostly handled Sylvie's actual visit, because my brain was full of other stuff that day for Claire's visit; I had also done a lot of the prep, including chasing down a class to attend the visit. You'd think this wouldn't be so hard! ... and yet. Here's the deal.
The opportunity for this visit comes as part of our branch's participation in the Livromagie club from Communication Jeunesse; in other words, the author visit is for the children participating in this club. I had some issues finding groups and/or classes to join this club, and basically, finally, after lots of work, we got a grade 1-2 class willing to participate in the club, and they came to see Sylvie on Tuesday afternoon. What was especially interesting about the event was that it took the kids about 15 minutes to completely understand that Sylvie, the woman in front of them, was actually the author of the books they had been reading in class. This was definitely the first time any of them had met a published writer, and I think they were a bit in awe. What a rewarding experience ... in the end.
What was I talking about? Sorry.
Oh, right, Tuesday. Author visit #1 - check. Author visit #2 - Claire - check. We had 15 people at Rideau for her reading, which was both awesome (I would have been happy with anything over, say, 5; author visits at libraries are generally not well attended, which I frankly have a few theories about, but that rant will have to wait for another day....) and kind of depressing (considering the amount of marketing I did!) I was cheered that one person had found out about the event because of a flyer I put up at Loblaws, one heard through one of our book clubs, and two attended from another local book club (not held at Rideau) of McGill alumni, who I had invited specially.
On Wednesday, Claire spoke to a group of senior school girls from Elmwood in Rockcliffe Park, and I accompanied her there as well. Honestly, I was able to better concentrate on her talk the second time around, since I sort of felt like I had Author Reading Brain for the first two days of this week (like Mommy Brain!).
It was great to get to spend some time with Claire. I must confess that we weren't particularly close when I was a student in her class at Marianopolis; she was closer to my best friend at the time, Kaya. Both Kaya and I were writers, but it was Kaya who shared much of her work with Claire. That time in my life was when most of my energy was devoted to exploring my new-found independence, bonding with my rez girls, feeling anxiety about money (and working three jobs) and navigating my first relationship. I was probably not the most respectful or studious girl in Claire's class. Claire and I floated in and out of each other's lives since then, seeing one another at Kaya's concerts or in Westmount circles. I'm so glad that we are still in touch, and I'm so glad that now, 13 years later, I have been given the opportunity to get to know her better. Turns out we're both dancers, and runners, and we both love long walks; we have similar warm memories of a particular nun at the College who I lived with; we're both ardent feminists, and so on. Honestly, it was lovely to see her.
A couple of quick things I learned from her talk, besides the obvious about Dr. Maude Abbot:
In case you are wondering, we have some of the usual suspects: our bilingual Family Storytime, our two Frontier College partner programs (the Reading circle and the Homework club), our three book clubs (Morning, Evening, and Mille-Feuilles), our writing workshop group, and March break programs, of course!
Our new and exciting initiatives include two more sessions of "Coffee with a police officer," two partner programs with the Ottawa Art Gallery: "Talk about Art with the Ottawa Art Gallery," and "Meet the Firestones with the Ottawa Art Gallery," and 6 free legal aid clinics (in partnership with three local legal aid organisations), focusing on Tenants’ rights / Droits des locataires, Workers’ rights, Income maintenance for the elderly, Successions & testaments and Human rights.
(Just for fun, remember that not only do I organise all this, but I get to make the posters for each event, too! Which I really enjoy, actually, it's just a lot of work).
I did one other incredibly rewarding thing this week (in addition to welcoming Claire, that is, not in addition to program submission and poster design - both of which are more equal parts rewarding and tedious): I went on outreach to the Stepping Stones program at the Ottawa Mission. I met with a group of about eight men who are in this program (along with their teacher, who has been incredibly welcoming and enthusiastic about meeting with me about partnerships). I introduced myself, talked about Rideau Branch, explained library membership and services (computer use, databases for homework help, language learning and hobbies), and brought some free paperbacks to give away. The men were interested, respectful, and they laughed at my jokes, which is always good. At one point, I logged into my library account to show them how to check their accounts and renew books, and they loved that I had overdues! I was very impressed by the group.
Instead of grading assignments on Friday, I decided to give myself a break and hung out with friends, which was kind of unusual (at least for the me that exists since I moved to Ottawa) but a lot of fun. Meanwhile, back at Rideau, my colleague received a group visit from a local refugee centre for a tour of the library.
On the weekend I prepared next week's lecture (on copyright! Horrors!) Oh, and I worked Saturday, when it was so cold inside the library (weatherstripping issues - don't ask) that my nose was frozen and I kept my legwarmers on all day, and, in other news, I explored the fine line between "Is this patron sleeping on the heating vent in the parking lot?" and "Is this patron passed out?" Sigh. I believe only emergency response teams can answer that one for me. But hey, I helped a guy with MLA format. Wheeee.
Then I slept for 12 hours.
I had a pretty busy week. Last Sunday, I found out I am going to NELI, which is really exciting .... and really scary! I am very pleased, and honoured to be chosen. I think it will be a great opportunity. So one thing I did this week was make some other arrangements for my absence in early December (re-arrange my course outline for ILLs, arrange hotels, etc.)
Our big thing this week was author visits: we had two at Rideau, on the same day, even! Children's author Sylvie Massicotte visited Rideau Branch to talk to a class on Tuesday afternoon; Claire Rothman visited on Tuesday evening. My colleague mostly handled Sylvie's actual visit, because my brain was full of other stuff that day for Claire's visit; I had also done a lot of the prep, including chasing down a class to attend the visit. You'd think this wouldn't be so hard! ... and yet. Here's the deal.
The opportunity for this visit comes as part of our branch's participation in the Livromagie club from Communication Jeunesse; in other words, the author visit is for the children participating in this club. I had some issues finding groups and/or classes to join this club, and basically, finally, after lots of work, we got a grade 1-2 class willing to participate in the club, and they came to see Sylvie on Tuesday afternoon. What was especially interesting about the event was that it took the kids about 15 minutes to completely understand that Sylvie, the woman in front of them, was actually the author of the books they had been reading in class. This was definitely the first time any of them had met a published writer, and I think they were a bit in awe. What a rewarding experience ... in the end.
What was I talking about? Sorry.
Oh, right, Tuesday. Author visit #1 - check. Author visit #2 - Claire - check. We had 15 people at Rideau for her reading, which was both awesome (I would have been happy with anything over, say, 5; author visits at libraries are generally not well attended, which I frankly have a few theories about, but that rant will have to wait for another day....) and kind of depressing (considering the amount of marketing I did!) I was cheered that one person had found out about the event because of a flyer I put up at Loblaws, one heard through one of our book clubs, and two attended from another local book club (not held at Rideau) of McGill alumni, who I had invited specially.
On Wednesday, Claire spoke to a group of senior school girls from Elmwood in Rockcliffe Park, and I accompanied her there as well. Honestly, I was able to better concentrate on her talk the second time around, since I sort of felt like I had Author Reading Brain for the first two days of this week (like Mommy Brain!).
It was great to get to spend some time with Claire. I must confess that we weren't particularly close when I was a student in her class at Marianopolis; she was closer to my best friend at the time, Kaya. Both Kaya and I were writers, but it was Kaya who shared much of her work with Claire. That time in my life was when most of my energy was devoted to exploring my new-found independence, bonding with my rez girls, feeling anxiety about money (and working three jobs) and navigating my first relationship. I was probably not the most respectful or studious girl in Claire's class. Claire and I floated in and out of each other's lives since then, seeing one another at Kaya's concerts or in Westmount circles. I'm so glad that we are still in touch, and I'm so glad that now, 13 years later, I have been given the opportunity to get to know her better. Turns out we're both dancers, and runners, and we both love long walks; we have similar warm memories of a particular nun at the College who I lived with; we're both ardent feminists, and so on. Honestly, it was lovely to see her.
A couple of quick things I learned from her talk, besides the obvious about Dr. Maude Abbot:
- The history of the Holmes Heart
- What she was reading when she developed the idea for The Heart Specialist: excellent Canadian historical fiction, including Helen Humphrey's Afterimage (about amazing Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, who I totally had a girl crush on anyway) and Michael Crummey's The River Thieves (which I sort of knew was about the Beothuk, but had sort of also forgotten; must pick it up)
- She loved Dorothy in Middlemarch!
- My favourite quote of the talk: Claire, speaking about her main character's expertise with the physical heart, and ineptitude with her own emotional heart, says "We can be the smartest people but we are just falling all over ourselves in love."
In case you are wondering, we have some of the usual suspects: our bilingual Family Storytime, our two Frontier College partner programs (the Reading circle and the Homework club), our three book clubs (Morning, Evening, and Mille-Feuilles), our writing workshop group, and March break programs, of course!
Our new and exciting initiatives include two more sessions of "Coffee with a police officer," two partner programs with the Ottawa Art Gallery: "Talk about Art with the Ottawa Art Gallery," and "Meet the Firestones with the Ottawa Art Gallery," and 6 free legal aid clinics (in partnership with three local legal aid organisations), focusing on Tenants’ rights / Droits des locataires, Workers’ rights, Income maintenance for the elderly, Successions & testaments and Human rights.
(Just for fun, remember that not only do I organise all this, but I get to make the posters for each event, too! Which I really enjoy, actually, it's just a lot of work).
I did one other incredibly rewarding thing this week (in addition to welcoming Claire, that is, not in addition to program submission and poster design - both of which are more equal parts rewarding and tedious): I went on outreach to the Stepping Stones program at the Ottawa Mission. I met with a group of about eight men who are in this program (along with their teacher, who has been incredibly welcoming and enthusiastic about meeting with me about partnerships). I introduced myself, talked about Rideau Branch, explained library membership and services (computer use, databases for homework help, language learning and hobbies), and brought some free paperbacks to give away. The men were interested, respectful, and they laughed at my jokes, which is always good. At one point, I logged into my library account to show them how to check their accounts and renew books, and they loved that I had overdues! I was very impressed by the group.
Instead of grading assignments on Friday, I decided to give myself a break and hung out with friends, which was kind of unusual (at least for the me that exists since I moved to Ottawa) but a lot of fun. Meanwhile, back at Rideau, my colleague received a group visit from a local refugee centre for a tour of the library.
On the weekend I prepared next week's lecture (on copyright! Horrors!) Oh, and I worked Saturday, when it was so cold inside the library (weatherstripping issues - don't ask) that my nose was frozen and I kept my legwarmers on all day, and, in other news, I explored the fine line between "Is this patron sleeping on the heating vent in the parking lot?" and "Is this patron passed out?" Sigh. I believe only emergency response teams can answer that one for me. But hey, I helped a guy with MLA format. Wheeee.
Then I slept for 12 hours.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
RA in a day 2010: OPLA RA Committee 2010 picks
The OPLA RA committee’s picks for the best books of 2010 are online here.
RA in a day 2010: "Putting Readers First: An introduction to the reader-centred approach" with Rachel van Riel
These are my final notes about RA in a day 2010; I am concluding with notes from the first session of the day (sorry for being backwards!)
Our first session, which lasted all morning was "Putting Readers First: An introduction to the reader-centred approach" with Rachel van Riel, the director of Opening the Book. I was lucky enough to have dinner the evening before the conference with Rachel (as well as Sharron from the RA committee and Brittany Bryan from NoveList); we had some fascinating discussions about books and reading, and the reading / library culture in the UK.
Opening the Book is a British company that has worked with every library service in the UK (as well as several in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia) to design, equip (i.e. with furniture) and train employees in “reader-development.” The concept of reader-development involves looking at the psychology of reading; this seemed to become a theme for the day, really, as it was a term picked up later in the afternoon by Dr. Mar (see also). Reader-development involves libraries’ focusing on a reader-centred approach to service, which includes:
Sausages and chocolate bars: concepts behind the reader-centred approach
The reader-centred approach starts with why, how and what people read, how reading fits into people’s lives, and how to promote to readers using motivation and engagement. As van Riel phrased it, “sell the sizzle, not the sausage;” libraries should be selling the experience of reading more than the actual book (eg. what the sausage/book can do for you, not what it is). She says we spend a lot of time choosing our sausages (debating which book to recommend or promote). Often, even, we end up promoting access to the bestsellers, which is counter-intuitive; we “sell” the same top 10 that people see at the bookstore, even though we have a much broader selection, and even when these top 10 are unavailable at the library (due to requests). The real test of the library of the future will be when patrons come in for that bestseller, can we sell them something else? The reader-centred approach should open up reading choices, allowing library staff to escape from genre and author displays, bring books together in unusual combinations, and mix fiction/non-fiction.
Look at the way chocolate bars are marketed, which is pretty stereotypical: there are chocolate bars sold to men, and these campaigns stress energy, protein, etc. There are chocolate bars sold to children, and these campaigns stress fun colours, shapes and textures, or pop culture characters. There are chocolate bars sold to women, and these campaigns stress treating yourself, doing something for yourself, and/or sex. As ridiculous as this is, we could learn something from this idea: the library tries to be “anything aimed at everybody,” and as a result, “nobody identifies with it.” People come into our buildings for 3 minutes, 30 minutes or 3 hours, and we treat them all the same. We should be exploring offering more targeted services to targeted markets.
As an example, van Riel described a pilot outreach project in a cancer treatment centre in Wales. The project was developed after a library employee visited the centre herself. She observed that the reading material provided in the waiting rooms was out of date and tired; moreover, people in the centre for treatment came from all walks of life and various parts of the country, often for up to 8 hours a day. A small library collection was developed for the cancer centre; the idea being that people could read the book while they were there, or take it home to finish and return it to any library in the area. The program was a great success: during the first week, one book from the collection ended up in Anglesey, which was “pretty much the farthest it could be” from the centre. Having the collection also provided a “safe” topic of conversation (eg. other than illness) for patients and staff of the centre.
Display and marketing ideas
Libraries in the UK and Scandinavia have experimented with reader-centred marketing campaigns, design, and programs, and van Riel outlined several in her presentation, including the “Give me a break” marketing campaign in Wales. This campaign was geared towards 18-30 year olds, and the posters completed the slogan: “Give me a break from stress,” “Give me a break from the kids,” or “Give me a break from it all.” The emphasis was on the diversity of experiences of 18-30s: some already had families, jobs and responsibilities, and some were still living at home, students or unemployed, possibly bored. The posters themselves featured images representing these experiences. As van Riel pointed out, book publicity generally shows photos of authors and book covers; where is the reader in all this? By giving readers the starring role in marketing and display ideas, libraries can re-engage with readers, value their individuality, and celebrate what reading means to them.
Other ideas:
Programming ideas
A book and wine tasting event was held at a community library in England. Several countries were represented by a table in the library containing a wine and a novel; visitors sat at that table, and, while they were tasting the wine, listened to a reading of an excerpt from the novel.
The physical layout of a library
Furniture and displays should thus make choices easy; we should also remember that the bestsellers don’t need our help! In children’s departments, van Riel suggested actually connecting books and play (TPL’s KidsStops and OPL’s early literacy spaces do this very well, I think!). Many libaries segregate areas for play and areas for reading - van Riel sees this as implying: “Have fun here; be bored here!” She showed some magnificent photographs of children’s spaces in European libraries, including one library where they had hollow tunnels with custom slatwall on the exterior curve; children were encouraged to pick a book from the slatwall and enjoy it inside the tunnel on a built-in bench.
The library’s online presence
Whichbook.net was used as an example of a dynamic website targeted to readers. The site promoted titles beyond the bestsellers and from independent presses using an online read-alike survey. Reader-friendly websites, van Riel explained, should be structured around users, not the library, should use technology to meet needs that cannot be met online, and work best when they are small and changing, rather than huge and static.
Getting the conversation about books going
Consider using real people and their real statements about reading for a library marketing campaign: one campaign in the UK took pictures of local well-known personalities and put them up around town (eg. the local hardware store would have a photo of the owner). Each photo was captioned, “What is he/she reading? Find out at the library!” In the library, there was a display of books chosen by each personality.
Some other suggestions for engaging with patrons included:
Most organisations, van Riel concluded, claim a lot more than they achieve. Libraries, on the other hand, “achieve loads more than they claim.” We should be immensely proud of the fact that we are the most popular voluntary organisation; the most popular organisation that people choose to participate in!
We then took a lunch break. During either break or lunch, a woman from Stratford Public Library (Melanie? Sorry, my memory is terrible!) came up to tell me she was a reader of my blog. That was pretty exciting! She also told me about some wonderful things going on at SPL, and she shared with me a great reading list they made that is set up like a menu, entitled “A taste of the Stratford Public Library.” Categories included appetizers (magazines), entrees (non-fiction), desserts (light fiction), and specials (DVDs and databases), with all titles food-related!
Our first session, which lasted all morning was "Putting Readers First: An introduction to the reader-centred approach" with Rachel van Riel, the director of Opening the Book. I was lucky enough to have dinner the evening before the conference with Rachel (as well as Sharron from the RA committee and Brittany Bryan from NoveList); we had some fascinating discussions about books and reading, and the reading / library culture in the UK.
Opening the Book is a British company that has worked with every library service in the UK (as well as several in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia) to design, equip (i.e. with furniture) and train employees in “reader-development.” The concept of reader-development involves looking at the psychology of reading; this seemed to become a theme for the day, really, as it was a term picked up later in the afternoon by Dr. Mar (see also). Reader-development involves libraries’ focusing on a reader-centred approach to service, which includes:
- Increasing people’s confidence in and enjoyment of what they read: says van Riel, “I want to live in a world where no one apologises for their reading!” We shouldn’t be ashamed of our reading, or put our own tastes down; we should be talking about what’s on our bedside table, not what we brought with us to “look good” in public.
- Opening up reading choices: 80% of the sales in UK bookstores are of less than 5% of the stock. Libraries have a definite strength here: we can offer a much richer diversity of titles, and the “risk” (monetary + disappointment) factor is much less in borrowing from us than in buying.
- Offering opportunities to share reading experiences: Reading is a bit invisible. Where were you when you finished the last great book you read? It’s likely you were in bed, with the light on, late at night. If someone else is there with you, it’s probable that they are snoring. You are not, for instance, in a sports stadium with 10, 000 other like-minded people, cheering your favourite author or book on! Reading is not like sharing other art forms. Were you to travel into space, however, you might see the world lit up at night by all the lights on from the homes of all the readers, worldwide: we outnumber fans of all other leisure activities.
Sausages and chocolate bars: concepts behind the reader-centred approachThe reader-centred approach starts with why, how and what people read, how reading fits into people’s lives, and how to promote to readers using motivation and engagement. As van Riel phrased it, “sell the sizzle, not the sausage;” libraries should be selling the experience of reading more than the actual book (eg. what the sausage/book can do for you, not what it is). She says we spend a lot of time choosing our sausages (debating which book to recommend or promote). Often, even, we end up promoting access to the bestsellers, which is counter-intuitive; we “sell” the same top 10 that people see at the bookstore, even though we have a much broader selection, and even when these top 10 are unavailable at the library (due to requests). The real test of the library of the future will be when patrons come in for that bestseller, can we sell them something else? The reader-centred approach should open up reading choices, allowing library staff to escape from genre and author displays, bring books together in unusual combinations, and mix fiction/non-fiction.
Look at the way chocolate bars are marketed, which is pretty stereotypical: there are chocolate bars sold to men, and these campaigns stress energy, protein, etc. There are chocolate bars sold to children, and these campaigns stress fun colours, shapes and textures, or pop culture characters. There are chocolate bars sold to women, and these campaigns stress treating yourself, doing something for yourself, and/or sex. As ridiculous as this is, we could learn something from this idea: the library tries to be “anything aimed at everybody,” and as a result, “nobody identifies with it.” People come into our buildings for 3 minutes, 30 minutes or 3 hours, and we treat them all the same. We should be exploring offering more targeted services to targeted markets.
As an example, van Riel described a pilot outreach project in a cancer treatment centre in Wales. The project was developed after a library employee visited the centre herself. She observed that the reading material provided in the waiting rooms was out of date and tired; moreover, people in the centre for treatment came from all walks of life and various parts of the country, often for up to 8 hours a day. A small library collection was developed for the cancer centre; the idea being that people could read the book while they were there, or take it home to finish and return it to any library in the area. The program was a great success: during the first week, one book from the collection ended up in Anglesey, which was “pretty much the farthest it could be” from the centre. Having the collection also provided a “safe” topic of conversation (eg. other than illness) for patients and staff of the centre.
Display and marketing ideas
Libraries in the UK and Scandinavia have experimented with reader-centred marketing campaigns, design, and programs, and van Riel outlined several in her presentation, including the “Give me a break” marketing campaign in Wales. This campaign was geared towards 18-30 year olds, and the posters completed the slogan: “Give me a break from stress,” “Give me a break from the kids,” or “Give me a break from it all.” The emphasis was on the diversity of experiences of 18-30s: some already had families, jobs and responsibilities, and some were still living at home, students or unemployed, possibly bored. The posters themselves featured images representing these experiences. As van Riel pointed out, book publicity generally shows photos of authors and book covers; where is the reader in all this? By giving readers the starring role in marketing and display ideas, libraries can re-engage with readers, value their individuality, and celebrate what reading means to them.
Other ideas:
- Take the lead: books to get ahead
- Take a risk – on a book
- Bite-sized reads
- Books about people more memorable than you!
Programming ideas
A book and wine tasting event was held at a community library in England. Several countries were represented by a table in the library containing a wine and a novel; visitors sat at that table, and, while they were tasting the wine, listened to a reading of an excerpt from the novel.
The physical layout of a library
Furniture and displays should thus make choices easy; we should also remember that the bestsellers don’t need our help! In children’s departments, van Riel suggested actually connecting books and play (TPL’s KidsStops and OPL’s early literacy spaces do this very well, I think!). Many libaries segregate areas for play and areas for reading - van Riel sees this as implying: “Have fun here; be bored here!” She showed some magnificent photographs of children’s spaces in European libraries, including one library where they had hollow tunnels with custom slatwall on the exterior curve; children were encouraged to pick a book from the slatwall and enjoy it inside the tunnel on a built-in bench.
The library’s online presence
Whichbook.net was used as an example of a dynamic website targeted to readers. The site promoted titles beyond the bestsellers and from independent presses using an online read-alike survey. Reader-friendly websites, van Riel explained, should be structured around users, not the library, should use technology to meet needs that cannot be met online, and work best when they are small and changing, rather than huge and static.
Getting the conversation about books going
Consider using real people and their real statements about reading for a library marketing campaign: one campaign in the UK took pictures of local well-known personalities and put them up around town (eg. the local hardware store would have a photo of the owner). Each photo was captioned, “What is he/she reading? Find out at the library!” In the library, there was a display of books chosen by each personality.
Some other suggestions for engaging with patrons included:
- Have a spot for returned books. People love browsing each others’ returns. Consider a double-sided book truck, with one side labelled “Recommended” and the other “Not recommended!”
- Have a “Book of the day” display – one book. If the book is taken out, that person has to choose the next book of the day. van Riel said that in one library where this was done, the book changed practically every 2 minutes.
- Recommended reading from patrons: write down what people say in their own words. Can be used on small noticeboard with passport-sized photos of readers to accompany text, or large poster on end of bay of books, or on website, local newspaper, or e-mail signature line.
- Where do you read? (places, eg. armchair, bed, staffroom, beach, balcony)
- When do you read? (time, eg. time of day, season)
- Do you read every page or do you jump ahead? Do you employ different strategies for different types of books?
- Do you ever cheat and read the ending first? If so, what are the circumstances?
- How far back can you go with your reading memories? (eg. what is your earliest memory of reading or of books?)
- What else do you do when you read? (eg. cook, sunbathe)
- What did you read as a teenager for the “sexy bits?” (eg. what was passed around class or had well-worn pages in the school library?)
- Who do you talk to about your reading?
Most organisations, van Riel concluded, claim a lot more than they achieve. Libraries, on the other hand, “achieve loads more than they claim.” We should be immensely proud of the fact that we are the most popular voluntary organisation; the most popular organisation that people choose to participate in!
We then took a lunch break. During either break or lunch, a woman from Stratford Public Library (Melanie? Sorry, my memory is terrible!) came up to tell me she was a reader of my blog. That was pretty exciting! She also told me about some wonderful things going on at SPL, and she shared with me a great reading list they made that is set up like a menu, entitled “A taste of the Stratford Public Library.” Categories included appetizers (magazines), entrees (non-fiction), desserts (light fiction), and specials (DVDs and databases), with all titles food-related!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Open Book Toronto: The Questionless Books Interview
"Only fools look to cookies for words of wisdom."
A recent article pointed me to a promotional tool used by staff at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire’s McIntyre Library - fortune cookies! Now, I'm not an academic librarian, but these were too great not to post about. Seems they handed the cookies out during library orientation during the fall, and then again near finals. They ordered them online with (brilliant) custom messages. In the fall, they read:
Jennings, Eric and Kathryn Tvaruzka. "Quick & Dirty Library Promotions That Really Work." Journal of Library Innovation 1.2 (2010).
Thanks to Bookpusher for the link!
- Right now your parents are remodeling your bedroom.
- Today you will meet someone new. Why not make it a librarian?
- The greatest danger could be your stupidity. Use McIntyre Library.
- Worse things are yet to come. Befriend a librarian.
- Only fools look to cookies for words of wisdom. Look to the library.
- You came to the library and all you got was a lousy cookie.
- I cannot help you, for I am just a cookie. But a librarian can.
- You will wait until the last minute. McIntyre will be here for you.
- You will survive the final exams with the help from McIntyre.
- Your final exams will be canceled.
- The stapler’s over there.
Jennings, Eric and Kathryn Tvaruzka. "Quick & Dirty Library Promotions That Really Work." Journal of Library Innovation 1.2 (2010).
Thanks to Bookpusher for the link!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Happy anniversary, Lady Chatterley's Lover
"Nothing, members of the Jury, will ever prevent young people from looking up certain words in the dictionary, or Shakespeare, or the Old Testament, and as long as there are medical books in the secondhand bookshops, some young people who may look at a particular diagram may not be solely influenced by a desire for medical education. We do not say for that reason that medical books should not be sold. Society cannot fix its standards by what is suitable for a young person of 14."- from the closing speech for the defense
(a complete transcript of the trial was published as one of the Pocket Penguin series)
(a complete transcript of the trial was published as one of the Pocket Penguin series)
50 years ago today, a British jury found Penguin Books not guilty of publishing obscenity.
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